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Monday, February 3, 2014

MMGM: The I Survived Series by Lauren Tarshis

What a great idea for a series. The author takes real life tragedies and builds a story around the event with a kid (the age of her target audience) as the protagonist in each. The stories she creates are well done with great characters. Throw in a little history lesson in each book and they are all winners. At least the three I read this past week were. My kids enjoy them too which is the best indication for success.

These are short books at around 10,000 words each, which is a great length for reluctant readers (as well as me when I am looking to finish a few books quickly!) I love that she adds in facts surrounding each tragedy at the end of the book and any personal experience she might have, for example that she was on a plane heading to NYC when the terrorist attacks occurred in 2001 (how scary!)

These are also fairly inexpensive books so I don't mind getting each new addition to the series when it pops up in my kids' Scholastic book order flyer! There are now nine books in the series.

I Survived the Sinking of the Titanic, 1912
I Survived the Shark Attacks of 1916
I Survived Hurricane Katrina, 2005
I Survived the Bombing of Pearl Harbor, 1941
I Survived the San Francisco Earthquake, 1906
I Survived the Attacks of September 11, 2001
I Survived the Battle of Gettysburg, 1863
I Survived the Japanese Tsunami, 2011
I Survived the Nazi Invasion, 1944

I have also read (and enjoyed) the other two books Lauren Tarshis wrote: Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell out of a Tree and Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell in Love. So I guess I am just a big fan of this author! Check out her website here.

About Me

I am a SAHM to three young kids. I started this blog to keep track of my progress on writing for children, but have expanded it to include anything created by me - photography, scrapbooks, art made with my kids, and knitted or crocheted projects. Therefore I have dubbed myself a Creative-in-Training. Looking forward to meeting you!